Journal Entry 2

2nd May 2012
Scribe: Auder Lee (Yong Jui Jun)

Editing by: Nathaniel

Before setting off on our quest, it was deemed wise that we should prepare ourselves with proper information & equipment. Bearing this in mind, we visited the local cartographer, Boots. Though odd in appearance, he seemed quite seasoned & experienced. He offered to charge us fifty gold pieces for each question we ask, but was willing to waive some of the fees in exchange for any useful information we may acquire, presumably, for his mapmaking trade once we return from our journey. Before our departure, he passed Skor the Compass of Dora to aid us in our journey through the Aegean Desert.

Our new companion, Loblo, apparently knows Boots, but got into a bit of a bind for running his mouth off. But despite his uncouth appearance, this wily and cunning thief did demonstrate great knowledge of the city.

Following the advice of Boots, we visited the local artificer to procure some sort of magic device that could create water. Jobs is his name, and he is truly a purveyor of wondrous artifacts. But because they were greatly prized, not much could be said for it's wondrous prices. In the end, we bought a Wand of Create Water for four hundred gold pieces.

Once we had everything we needed, we set off on our journey into the desert. Our trek was a long and harsh one, though it was definitely made easier by the Wand of Endure Elements that our sorcerer had. We encountered some of the wildlife (medium-sized snakes) along the way (Iggy accidentally stepped into their nest, while Skor decided to take the both of the snakes' heads as trophies), but main event of the day was our daring rescue of the wizard merchant Billy in his toppled wagon. We had to brave quicksand, bandits and his own fire beetles to rescue him, but our efforts only rewarded us a Hat of Disguise Self, a flask containing some unknown powdery substance and some coins.

Though our morale was high after the victorious defense against the bandits, we were stopped short when we became disoriented and lost for a moment (we realized we were walking in a circle as we discovered we were back at the toppled wagon). As Skor managed to find our way back to the crossroads, we decided to head west since the quicksand was directly in our path towards the south. As we journeyed, the road started to curve towards the north. Because of this, we decided that we had to break off from our the path and venture into the deep unknown territory of the desert, in order to reach the Saline Settlements.

We've set up camp, and we're hoping things will go well when we resume our journey.